Tuesday, April 23, 2019

HOMILY for April 18, 2019: Holy Thursday, Cycle B

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Holy Thursday, Cycle B 
April 18, 2019

Sisters of Saint Joseph Motherhouse

Chesnut Hill, Pennsylvania 


Four Actions about Bread and about Us
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato 


“Took, Blessed, Broke, and Gave” 


In a few minutes, I will stand here at the altar and lead the Eucharistic Prayer.

I will repeat some words that we have heard many times. The prayer says that Jesus “took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples.”

This evening, I am focusing on those four action words. Jesus “took, blessed, broke, and gave.”

What I am thinking is that Jesus has also takenandblessedbrokenandgivenusHere is what I have in mind.

We Are Taken and Blessed 

First, we are taken and blessed.

I remember when I was growing up in Brooklyn, New York, we would often organize our own baseball games on a field in the neighborhood. Each time we did this, two of us would be the “managers” of the two teams and we would take turns choosing players from among the guys who were there.

Well, it was a big deal to be taken or chosen first. It meant that you were a good player and it was a real ego-booster.

Thank God, in the end, everyone was taken. No one was left out.

Well, the first thing we have to realize in the spiritual life is that God has taken and blessed each one of us.  God has spoken over us the same words that the Father speaks over Jesus at his baptism: “You are my beloved son. You are my beloved daughter.”

In this, God has touched the very core of our being. In and through Jesus, God has made us valued and worthy, wanted and loved.

This is so important as our foundation for living in today’s world. In our world, value and worth is often contingent on having sparkling white teeth or having a good job or owning a BMW or whatever.

But in truth, Jesus assures us that God has already taken and blessed each one of us. No one is excluded, like in my childhood pick-up baseball games. 

What a wonderful sense of self and what a strong foundation for living this is for us. God, Jesus has taken and blessed us.

We Are Broken and Given

And then, Jesus has broken and given us.

Here we have to understand the word broken a little bit differently. Jesus has not really broken us. 

Instead, he wants us to realize that we are broken. Each one of us is broken in at least some way.

We are all broken because we are human. We are incomplete in our own humanity and we are restless for the wholeness that only God can give.

We may be broken because of something that has happened to us or because of a bad habit or a lost relationship. Or maybe because we feel guilty about something we have done or broken because of our physical limitations.

So, Jesus wants us to be aware of our brokenness. And then, with that awareness, we can be given. We learned as children to, “Offer it up for the sake of others, such as loved ones, family and friends or those who are living in desperate situations and whom we may never personally know, but can bring to prayer.

In other words, we will be given authentically and fully because we know that we ourselves are also broken. That is the richness of these words.  

Conclusion

I conclude with this.

At the Last Supper, Jesus “took, blessed, broke, and gave”the bread to us. He gives us his own body and blood to nourish and strengthen us on our journey.

And he also gives us this bread so that we, in turn, can be bread, a bread of life for one another. 

This will happen as we realize that we, like the bread, also are taken and blessed, broken and given.

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